Category: News

Location: CIHEAM Montpellier
Date: September 29–30, 2026

The NATAE Project, in association with the DIONYSUS Project, will host a Policy Conference titled “What scientific and political mechanisms for the future of agroecological transition in the Mediterranean region? Transdisciplinarity, assessments and scaling up” on 29–30 September 2026 at CIHEAM Montpellier.

Over two days, the conference will bring together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from across the Mediterranean and beyond, including Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Mauritania, France, and Germany, to discuss multi-stakeholder approaches to agroecology, the performance and scaling-up of Living Lab methodologies, and the financing and institutional mechanisms needed to support agroecological transition at scale.
The programme includes seven thematic sessions covering topics such as food security, territorial economies, and the transition from action research to public policy, with contributions from institutions including CIHEAM-IAMM, DG-AGRI, OSS, AFD, AfDB, and multiple national ministries and universities across the region.

After the first session held on May 5 and 6, INAT and INGC for NATAE project organized with INRGREF – SCALARE (Prima Project) the second training session for 18 farmers from El Krib LL on June 25, 2026.

The training focused on agoecology practices and agroforetsry and included five sessions about:

• Ruminant nutrition and the importance of feed mixture
• Agroforestery
• Hydro-agricultural developpement
• forage mixture and crop rotation
• Conservation agriculture

Farmers showed interest and discussed mainly on promoting sustainable and efficient agroecological practices with a particular focus on the importance of agroforestry.

As part of the Horizon Europe NATAE research project, the project team from the Agriculture, Territory and Environment Division organized a second training session on “Production and Preservation of Farmer Seeds” on June 21, 2026, at the Tizi-Ouzou Living Lab.

The objective of the training was to strengthen the capacities of local stakeholders in the production, selection, conservation, and collective management of farmer seeds, while supporting the establishment of a sustainable community seed bank.

The training was delivered by Professor Tellah Sihem, a lecturer at the National Higher Agronomic School of Algiers (ENSA). The session combined both theoretical and practical aspects of seed production, as well as the creation and management of a farmer seed bank, and included hands-on field exercises.

The participating farmers showed great interest in the training and expressed their willingness to establish a seed bank in order to preserve the rich genetic heritage that exists within their territory.

INAT and INGC organised a training session for 12 farmers from El Krib LL region on May 5-6, 2026.

The training focused on strategies to reduce agricultural inputs and included three main sessions about:

• weed control,
• the integrated pest management
• and the mineral nutrition management.

The session combined theoritical presentations with practical discussions aimed at promoting sustainable and efficient agroecological practices. Farmers showed interest and active participation, mainly in discussion related to improving crop management.

At the cultural city in Tunis, under the title: “Green Waves-Small Actions, Big Impacts”, NATAE was invited to participate to this event through a stand.

During this event, INAT team shared with the participants the activities of the NATAE’s project focusing on the experience of living lab of El Krib at Siliana via an interactive stand exhibiting flyers and rollups.

The event was an opportunity to share with officials, participants and kids the NATAE results and agroecology transition.

This webinar explores initiatives that promote the testing and dissemination of agroecological practices, such as pilot farms, demonstration fields, and networks of “lead” farmers.
These initiatives, which enable the testing, evaluation, and dissemination of practices, are essential for ensuring the success of agroecological transition. By combining real-world experimentation, peer learning, and technical support, they make it possible to adapt practices to local contexts; reduce both the perceived and actual risks faced by farmers; and promote the adoption of practices and the transfer of knowledge.
Presentations by various speakers (research institutes, technical institutes, NGOs) will provide an opportunity to discuss the conditions for success, limitations, and lessons learned from these initiatives.

As part of the NATAE activities, INAT organized a three-day visit involving researchers from IAMM, IUCN, and ICARDA. Organized in collaboration with INGC, this visit provided a valuable opportunity for exchange and collaboration, featuring a range of diverse and engaging activities.

El Rochen (Zarzis south east of Tunisia) is an agroecological farm dedicated to experimentation and knowledge transfer in support of the agroecological transition in Tunisia. In collaboration with the eco-farm OMI HNIA, located in Cap Negro (North Tunisia), El Rochen co-organised the second edition of the Zarzis agroecology festival.

Held from March 29 to 31, 2026, the festival gathered farmers, skateholder, citizen, holders of traditional knowledge, researchers, and associations from France, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Senegal and Tunisia. They engaged in discussion, sharing and exchange about knowledge and experiences on agroecology.

In this context, NATAE project participated by a stand during the three days and a project presentation during the second day.

The sixth summit on desertif’action took place from March 25 to 28, 2026 in Jerba, (Tunisia), bringing 450 international participants: representatives of civil society, researchers, NGOs, associations, private and public institutions, local authorities, and farmers and co-organized by CARI, UNCCD, and OSS, in partnership with ACDD and WWF North Africa.

Over three days, participants attended plenary sessions and different group works. The objective of these three days of work was to collectively develop solutions and proposals for COP17 which will be held in Mongolia this summer.

The desertif’action themes were (1) transformation of sedentary agricultural and/or livestock systems, (2) pastoralism, (3) territorial management of water resources and (4) territorial governance.

NATAE was in the heart of this 6th edition, represented by IAMM, CARI, INAT, INGC, RIAM and Al Argoub Association. It was the occasion to present the project during both a side event on March 27th and stand exhibition the last day shared with MEDAE network and the Tunisian Network for Agroecological Transition RTTA.

Within the framework of the NATAE (North African Transition to AgroEcology) project, a three-day training program was organized to strengthen the technical and practical capacities of farmers from the Living Labs of Ait Othmane and Skoura M’Daz.

Coordinated by the National School of Agriculture in Meknes (ENA) in collaboration with The Network of Agro-Ecological Initiatives in Morocco (RIAM), this training aimed to support the transition towards sustainable and resilient agricultural systems based on agroecological principles.

The program was designed as a progressive learning pathway, combining theoretical foundations with practical field applications adapted to the local context.